{"id":568362,"date":"2026-08-15T14:05:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T11:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=568362"},"modified":"2026-08-15T15:24:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:24:05","slug":"ruins-of-former-jesuit-church-in-babruysk-transferred-free-of-charge-to-company-owned-by-businessman-aliaksandr-zaitsau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/ruins-of-former-jesuit-church-in-babruysk-transferred-free-of-charge-to-company-owned-by-businessman-aliaksandr-zaitsau","title":{"rendered":"Ruins Of Former Jesuit Church In Babruysk Transferred Free Of Charge To Company Owned By Businessman Aliaksandr Zaitsau"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The ruins of the former Jesuit church \u2014 the oldest building in Babruysk \u2014 have been transferred into the private ownership of H\u041cC Group, a company linked to Aliaksandr Zaitsau<\/strong>, who is described as Lukashenka\u2019s \u201cwallet.\u201d The businessman, who converted to Catholicism, generously donates to the construction of churches in Belarus. In December 2022, he became the first person in the country\u2019s history to receive the papal Order of St. Gregory the Great.<\/p>\n

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Collapsed wall of the Jesuit church. Photo: Spadchyna Telegram channel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to a new response from the Ministry of Culture, received<\/a> by subscribers of the Spadchyna Telegram channel regarding the fate of the city\u2019s oldest building, on Sept. 30, 2025, the architectural monument (officially listed under the name \u201cGuardhouse\u201d) was transferred free of charge from municipal to private ownership \u2014 to H\u041cC Group LLC.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the agreement, the new owner is required to carry out repair and restoration work within three years, that is, by Sept. 30, 2028. In the event of a missed deadline, it will have to pay a penalty to the city.<\/p>\n

It is also reported that in March 2026, the Ministry of Culture had already issued the company a permit to carry out research and design work for the reconstruction of the site with a change in its purpose.<\/p>\n

The church was built in 1745-1747 in the Baroque style according to a design by Vilnius architect Tomasz \u017bebrowski<\/strong> and is a designated historical and cultural heritage site. Under the Russian Empire, an arms warehouse was established in the building, while during the Soviet period it housed a military prison (guardhouse). After the prison was closed in the early 2000s, the church stood empty.<\/p>\n

Fires broke out in the building in 2011 and 2012, severely damaging the monument. In spring 2025, a wall of the northern sacristy collapsed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ruins of the former Jesuit church \u2014 the oldest building in Babruysk \u2014 have been transferred into the private ownership of H\u041cC Group, a company linked to Aliaksandr Zaitsau, who is described as Lukashenka\u2019s \u201cwallet.\u201d The businessman, who converted to Catholicism, generously donates to the construction of churches in Belarus. In December 2022, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":568361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6a805a694e640.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Ruins Of Former Jesuit Church In Babruysk Transferred Free Of Charge To Company Owned By Businessman Aliaksandr Zaitsau"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142375,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-568362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}